To be a
Cistercian on Caldey Island is from the outsider’s
point of view a leap backwards into the medieval period.
The location is quite evocative with some ancient sacred
places, the one ‘The Old Priory’ (14th
Century) and the other the parish church St David that
dates from the Viking period. The monastery where I am
living dates from early 20th Century and is
founded by monks from Belgium in 1929. Cistercian life
today is living a life within a community that is centred
on prayer, study, manual work and ofcourse the
celebration of the Liturgy. To be a Cistercian is to get
familiar with the Rule of St Benedict (6th
Century) whose words are very much in tune with life
today. His Rule covers in fact all areas of
Christian/Monastic life. He speaks about the blessings of
living within a community, but also about its trials.
Community life is a school that helps me to grow in
authenticity. It helps me to get in touch with myself,
the strong and the weak aspects of my personality. This
road I do not travel on my own, but together with
brothers. This journey of self-discovery has to be
nourished with a frequency of prayer, reading (Scripture,
Church Fathers, Monastic writings, but also perhaps
psychology and good novels can be a great help)
celebrating the Eucharist, and the work within and around
the monastery. Because it happens that being in touch
with oneself and with these different occupations
throughout the day, that I discover a link, a bond that
tells me that I belong to that greater family. St Paul
calls this ‘the Body of Christ’, St Benedict
calls it ‘The Household of God’. This discovery
breaks through eventually, through periods of pain and
disillusion. Community life can be quite difficult at
times, because you meet yourself and the brothers not
always in an ideal picture! Personally I am very much
convinced that this ‘dark’ experience opens the
door to meet ‘the Crucified Christ’ whose
presence inevitably brings me in touch with the promise
of ‘new life’, with the unshakeable hope in
something as ‘future’, a foretaste of a life
that has no end. Again, the words of St Paul:
‘God’s strength manifests itself when I am
weak’, is the common experience that runs through
the Cistercian life of the past and today. To be a
Cistercian for me is to open myself for God, which has to
be in truth, in my truth, in the reality of today.
For me God is the utmost REALITY, the utmost PRESENCE.
This presence is where I feel drawn to. This presence is
not something spectacular, not something extraordinary,
not something like having phenomenal visions. No, it is
the day-to-day experience of life. Getting up at 3h00 am,
praying Vigils at 3h30, breakfast at 5h00, Eucharist and
Lauds at 6h30, working in the Bakery till 11h30, then
Prayer, Dinner, a short siesta, working in my office
where I do my correspondence, receive and send e-mails
and listen to the brothers who want to see me about
business or more personal matters. Vespers (prayer) at
17h30, Supper, silent Prayer, Compline at 19h35, and then
to bed, because the day starts early. To be a Cistercian
is just to get on with life as it presents itself from
moment to moment, to try to be ‘here’. That can
be quite a job. So often I think about yesterday and plan
for tomorrow. In fact, what it comes to is the ‘here
and now’, to be receptive and available. That is for
me to open my heart for the presence of life, to the
brother, to my own self, to be open for the presence of
God, whose presence is active in ALL situations. All the
practices throughout the day helps me to open the door of
my heart.

Prayer,
silence, reading, studying, etc. are not ends in
themselves, they are ‘tools’ that provide me to
become attuned with ‘the real life’, that means
for the Cistercian: Jesus Christ.

He
is the heart of the Cistercian life of all ages. Christ
means to live your life in the ultimate truth, which
means to respond fully and freely to my TRUE self:
being an image of God. There lies the heart of the
Cistercian. This conviction you meet in the writings of
our saints such as Bernard and Aelred, but this
conviction as well is the heartbeat of the Cistercian
life today. Observances do change a bit over the
centuries, but our human nature does not do so very
much...that is why a St Bernard and St Aelred give us
still so much the ‘food for insight and
discovery’, so does the reading of Holy Scripture,
and the Celebration of the Liturgy. You see, what I try
to get at is that the connection of all these sources
enables me to ‘read’ life on the broader scale,
my own ofcourse, that of my brothers, of the Order, the
Church, but also from people far away and nearby, people
from all different walks of life (we receive about 600
guests a year, plus we have some tourist-industry that at
its peak draws about 1000 visitors a day to the Island in
summer). This ability to ‘read’ and so to come
to a deeper ‘understanding’ of life as such,
draws me to prayer which has mostly the character of
thanksgiving. To be part of God’s world, and
not just ‘the world’ gives our life hope and
meaning. I believe that the Cistercian life helps me to
shed light on what was obscure before. For me, it is
essentially Christ-centred; Christ is the Logos who
enlightens the a-logoi (the life that hasn’t got the
full meaning yet, but is essentially meant for it).

I
hope that I do not come across as too theoretical, but in
all fairness: this what I tried to write down above is
very much my experience, and I know that this experience
is very frequently in tune with that of the brothers of
our house and of the whole Order.

We
are represented all over the world, on all continents,
and it strikes me over and over again that no matter how
much the cultures differ: the language of Cistercian life
is clearly to be recognised: God became man, so that
humanity (you and I) can become brothers and sisters, and
form the household of God, the Body of Christ.

Today
we are very much in touch with other houses of the Order.
This happens through Regional Meetings, and General
Chapters (mostly in Rome) where all Abbesses and Abbots
meet. The communities themselves are also more involved
in this global sharing…the internet has done great
service in this particular area. I hope that this
scribbling makes sense, and give you some insight what
my/our life is all about.